Just a couple of days after the dramatic Spanish Grand Prix, the teams returned to the track for their mid-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. All of the teams were in attendance for the two day test except for Sauber. The Swiss team opted out of the team, saying that there were no upgrades for them to test.
Ferrari used the first day of their test to run some qualifying simulations to get to bottom of their qualifying issues. Specifically, the team was seeking ways to unlock maximum performance from the tyres. Sebastian Vettel was behind the wheel for the day, setting the fastest time and bearing his qualifying time from the Spanish Grand Prix. Antonio Fuoco also spent the second day running qualifying simulations, while also working on aerodynamic mapping and some setup work. He wasn’t as fast as Vettel, only ranking fifth fastest of the day.
Mercedes was second best to Ferrari in the first day of the test. The team spent most of the day completing some car evaluation with the medium compound tyres, but did venture onto the track with the softs for a little while, which was when they set their fastest time. After running with Manor on the first day of the test, Pascal Wehrlein was invited to drive for Mercedes on the next day. The team spent the day testing some new parts of the cars, while also doing some qualifying simulations later in the day. It was during the simulations where Wehrlein recorded the third fastest time.
Jenson Button was one of the drivers to use the supersoft tyre compound, do so on day one and setting the third fastest time on the time charts. His fastest time was set in the morning, with the rest of the day having been filled with mechanical and aerodynamic tests for McLaren. Stoffel Vandoorne was the second fastest of day two. The morning was spent on testing the car’s pace, while the team used the afternoon to test some new components on the car.
Romain Grosjean ranked behind the McLaren, using ultrasoft tyres. The Haas team fiddled around with various setup options in order to maximize their car’s performance. On day two, Esteban Gutierrez was fourth fastest. The morning was spent performing longer runs, as the team switched to short pace runs later in the day.
Pascal Wehrlein was the fifth fastest for day one in his Manor. The team ran various qualifying simulations throughout the day. The team was the slowest of day two, with Jordan King in the car. They ran the fewest laps in the day and were one of only two teams not to make break the 100 – lap barrier. After running wide in turn seven, a red flag was brought out so that the marshals could clean the gravel that had been spread on the circuit.
Daniel Ricciardo ran Renault’s upgraded power unit for the first time in the Red Bull. The goal of their first test day was to log some good mileage on the new power unit. In the afternoon, Red Bull sent him out on the soft tyres to complete the sixth fastest lap time of the day. Max Verstappen topped the second day of the test, although his lap time was not enough to surpass Vettel’s time on the first day. The morning was spent running soft and medium tyres to test the car’s aerodynamic changes and the new Renault power unit. The afternoon was spent solely on gaining mileage on the new power unit to see if it is reliable.
Red Bull’s Junior Driver, Pierre Gasly, took the wheel of the Toro Rosso for the first day of the test. He completed the least amount of laps, only running 78, and ended up on seventh on the time charts. Daniil Kvyat was sixth fastest of the day during some race simulations throughout the day. He brought out a red flag in the afternoon when he stopped in track.
Force India gave Alfonso Celis Jr another chance behind the wheel of their car. Just short of the triple digit laps, Celis put in a late lap time to give him eighth fastest of the day. Celis remained in the car for the second day of the test, setting a fastest time worthy of seventh on the time charts.
Williams was second slowest of the first test day, but that’s because their focus was not on speed. Much of the day was spent running an interesting double wing attachment on the front and rear wings in order to simulate the amount of downforce that is expected next season. Alex Lynn was unable to unleash the full potential of the car because of these attachments. The team took a break in the middle of the day in order to complete a proper test without the attachments, but then returned to their 2017 tests shortly after. The strange wings return with Felipe Massa in the second day, which meant that they were still slow and only able to set the second slowest lap.
Esteban Ocon ran 105 laps for Renault, but didn’t have a lot to show for it. The car was the slowest of the day, as the team completed various tests. Kevin Magnussen was behind the wheel for day two of the test. The morning was focused on pace, before moving on to evaluation runs in the afternoon.
Regular Formula One action returns at the end of May for the biggest race of the season: Monaco. The cars hit the streets of the playground for the rich on the weekend of May 29.
Bold indicates the fastest lap time of the test
